Capitulo 17: FROM THEORY TO MALPRACTICE LESSONS LEARNED

Box A. Operational Risk, One of the recurring lessons of the derivative debacles recounted in this book is the daunting nature of operational risk — that is the risk of catastrophic loss (often due to unauthorized trading) associated with internal processes, faulty models or computer systems, derelict employees or external events. Unlike market or counterparty risk for which insurance products or derivative markets offer comprehensive protection operational risk cannot be easily hedged. Indeed there is a scarcity of insurance products providing coverage against operational risk: one exception is Swiss Re — one of the largest re-insurance company in the world — which offers “financial institution operational risk insurance" to protect against unauthorized trading (rogue traders) and other types of operational risk. In the same vein and recognizing its importance

Basel II is mandating a new operational risk charge as part of regulatory capital imposed on financial institutions.

exposure) which are consistent with the firm´s appetite for risk. This presupposes that the Board of Directors has set clear strategic objectives and risk tolerance parameters within which risk management policies can be formulated and implemented. Defining the firm's risk appetite is one of the cornerstones of a risk management strategy: It rests squarely with the firm's senior management which will decide on its level of risk-aversion and therefore how conservative its risk management strategy will be. It will also shape major risk taking decisions: for example setting a certain level of credit rating for the firm as a risk management objective will constrain the risk-return tradeoffs within which investment decisions will have to be made. Last but not least senior management must also insure that such policies be woven into the fabric of the firm's daily operations. A word of caution though: as we argue for tighter risk management rules the firm has to make difficult trade-offs:

A company's risk management function could, at least in theory, be designed to know everything at all times, But if it were organized that way, the risk management function, besides being hugely costly, would likely stifle innovation and reduce the competitiveness of the firm. In fast moving markets, employees need flexibility.

POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR NON-FINANCIAI, FIRMS

Derivatives are a key risk management tool used widely by non-financial firms. The acid-test for any use of such instruments — and for that matter any risk management policy — is whether they are truly value-creating for the firm. The evidence provided in this book clearly indicates otherwise. Derivatives debacles which involved non-financial firms were rooted in ill-devised financial engineering (Metallgesellschaft), non-authorized speculative trading (Allied-Lyons), misunderstood products (Proctor & Gamble) and concealed losing speculative trades (Showa Shell).

Upon closer scrutiny of the above cases a simple taxonomy of corporate vulnerability to the malpractice of derivatives can be presented in a matrix which — on one dimension — will distinguish whether firms set up their treasury as a profit center and — on the second dimension —- whether treasury operations rely mostly on over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives as opposed to exchange traded products (see Table 1).

As the book amply illustrated failure to set clear and unambiguous objectives for the treasury office compounds the firm's vulnerability to derivatives' malpractice (see lesson #1 below). Most non-financial firms are better off keeping their treasury operations as a nonprofit center unless they developed unique expertise in a speculative market — e.g., energy companies in gas or oil derivatives. When treasury is set as a profit center it is important to clearly delineate the proprietary trading activities from traditional treasury operations and to set very tight monitoring guidelines for the newly embedded "hedge fund."

Reliance on OTC products also compounds the firm's exposure to debacles because enforcing positions and more importantly trading loss limits requires an inhouse marking-to-market algorithm (sec lesson #2 below). The absence of any cash margin requirements for OTC products (margins are the hallmark of exchange traded products) makes it casier to conceal large positions from the firm's comptroller.

Lesson 1: Failure to Set a Clear Mission for Treasury as a Profit Center.

A company's treasury department is charged with two principal tasks: (1) procuring financing at the lowest possible cost of capital with financing running the gamut from

short-term suppliers' funding in the form of account payables from suppliers to medium and long term bank loans or various forms of capital market debt and (2) hedging risk by limiting the firm's exposure to exchange rate, commodity price and interest rate risk in a manner consistent with its risk appetite. Neither funding nor hedging are profit making activities per se since the goal of financing is to minimize costs while hedging is all about minimizing risks. And yet many corporations have in the last 25 years redefined the mission of their treasury operations to turn them into profit centers.

For example, with the overhauling of its treasury function as early as 1987 Allied- Lyons' treasury seemed to have morphed into a de facto profit center without ever articulating clearly the risk-return profile within which it could operate. Indeed Allied-

Lyons had reported increasingly significant profits from foreign exchange trading and success clearly emboldened its treasury to pursue high stakes currency gambits. Profits came from the firm taking on sizeable speculative positions to which the governance of the firm seemed to acquiesce. Unfortunately, there was no charter prepared by the treasury, supported by the finance director and debated before being blessed by the Board of Directors. Speculation within the treasury was no secret and the alarm bells did ring on a number of occasions without any formal attempt by senior management to rein in the treasury's activities. Similarly Procter & Gamble was committed to lowering its cost of capital through creative financial engineering courtesy of Bankers Trust: unfortunately it exposed itself foolishly to risk that it failed to fully comprehend.

Lesson 2: Failure to Enforce Position and Trading Loss Limits. When it comes to the effective use of derivatives the trading room all too often happens to be the Achilles' heel of the firm. Most trading rooms within large industrial or financial institutions have reporting

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